Hearth & Harvest Festival
- Saturday, November 18, 2023
- 10:00 AM 4:00 PM
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 18 | 10AM-4PM
$15 – (AGES 6+)
$10 – MEMBERS
FREE – KIDS (0-5)
Celebrate Native American culture and traditional 19th century harvest celebrations through food, dance, storytelling, and crafts.
Harvest celebrations have been a part of Native culture for thousands of years. After a long growing season, crops would be gathered in abundance, and shared with family and the wider community, signaling the beginning of winter.
Come and experience the season of giving in a way never before seen at Historic Richmond Town. What was once our long-standing “Thanksgiving Kitchen Tours” has been transformed into the Hearth & Harvest Festival, where visitors can explore Native life and culture through presentations of indigenous dance, storytelling, and crafts; as well as demonstrations of hearth cooking in North America by costumed interpreters who will use 18th & 19th century recipes, tools and techniques in historic kitchens throughout the village.
PROGRAM FEATURES:
- Performances featuring storytelling and dance will be featured throughout the day, including a special performance by Patrick Littlewolf Brooks of the Tuscarora Nation. Brooks, an Army veteran and seasoned performer, offers a heartfelt and meaningful presentation that is not soon forgotten.
- Drum performance by Red Blanket Singers
- Interpretive talks at the Native Encampment by David Bunn Martine, of the Shinnecock Nation on Long Island.
- Historic house kitchen demonstrations at the Christopher House, (1720), the Guyon-Lake-Tysen House Kitchen (1820), the Basket Maker’s House (1810), and the Stephens-Black House (1837).
- Special demonstrations of early American recipes of the fall season will be offered, along with discussions of the complicated history of Thanksgiving in American life.
